New Year, New Life
by Amy j.2007
Summary: Marie Figaro has anorexia… it is the disease that rules her life. How will she feel when her new found friend finds out about her problems and shuns her, and who will help her when she needs it most? Sirius/OC, Marauderer Era.


Marie Figaro woke with a start and glanced at the eerie red alarm clock at the other side of her bedroom. She groaned wearily as she arched her back away from the lumpy mattress she had previously been asleep on, stretching.

"5.02am," she muttered sleepily as she tried to locate her slippers on the cold parquet flooring with her toes. Her bones creaked as she steadied herself on her matchstick legs, stretching her arms above her head and groaning quietly.

Ten minutes later, a thin ray of light cast peculiar shadows on the upstairs landing. Inside the bathroom, Marie was poking at her jutting hipbones critically as she shivered, her wet hair cold to her sensitive back. Delicately, she traced a line down her side, mentally counting her ribs as she did every morning; she longed to look in the mirror but had earlier made this impossible to do by draping a towel over it… she knew that she wouldn't like what she saw.

Marie tiptoed downstairs 15 minutes later, not making a sound. She had emerged with an almost painful smile on her face. Her favourite blue flared jeans were classically resting on her hips and on her upper half she wore a long sleeved grey shirt and a chunky red knitted cardigan. Her accessories consisted of a red beaded choker and the hand-made, expertly beaded black bracelet that she was never without on her wrist; her hair was casually tied up in a loose bun. Underneath these closes she wore three pairs of thick woollen tights and two thermal vests – anything to stop people asking questions.

As the downstairs clock chimed half past the hour, Marie slipped on her red large soled shoes and hoisted her trunk into an upright position. She reached towards the front door and was just about to step out into the cool morning air when someone whispered her name…

"Marie!" she stopped in her tracks, fear evident on her face and whipped around. She sighed, relieved.

"Steve! What are you doing here?" she exclaimed. "I haven't seen you for almost two years!"

"Listen, Mae," he muttered stepping towards her. "I am so VERY sorry for leaving you again, I should have taken you with me I just…"

"I know," she whispered, interrupting. "It was too dangerous for you to take me, I'm going now and not coming back," she motioned towards her trunk, "Surely you don't think they know about this?"

"Of course not, I know they would never allow it, but how'd ya manage it?" she grinned a little, "Well, you'll be better off, you know I am now… what happened the first time I left?" he suddenly said sternly. "They didn't... you didn't, did they…hurt you?" he asked, pain evident on his handsome face.

"N… no," she exclaimed, unconsciously grabbing her left wrist. Her loving older brother looked her up and down once before gathering her into a bone-crushing hug, lifting her right off the floor.

"Look, I'll make it up to you, I'm sorry! I never even thought about you… I never thought they would…" he released her.

"Steve, shhhh, I've got to go, you shouldn't even be here! I've got to go right now, I'll owl you, I promise, just get out of here! I don't want them to catch you, what did you even come back for? You know what they said…" she tailed off, frowning; a floor board creaked on the upstairs landing.

In a matter of 5 seconds, Steve had picked up Mae's trunk, Mae her small rucksack and they were both out of the door, running down the street. They were five streets away before they stopped. Steve set her trunk down and perched on it whilst Mae collapsed to the floor, her leg's shaking.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, his brow creasing. "You've changed so much since I last saw you. You're so much thinner than you used to be and…"

"I've just grown up, okay, you wouldn't know, you haven't been here have you?" she almost shouted, looking flustered. She rose to her feet and took a step away from him. Hurt was evident in Steve's eyes. "I've got to go, see you another time," her voice dropped to an almost inaudible level as she motioned for him to get off her trunk.

"Here," he said, pointing his wand at her trunk, shrinking it so it would fit in her pocket. "Just enjoy yourself now that you're away from them, it's SO much better than home, you have no idea." She smiled gently at him as they both turned in opposite directions, one on her journey to Kings Cross station, and the other towards a nearby café for breakfast.

--

Marie wondered how much longer she could keep going. Her legs ached, her eyesight was getting a little blurry around the edges and she was experiencing pains of hunger shooting up her sides. She sighed and eyed the bench located just inside a nearby park gate. She'd only sit down for a minute... no! She'd done nothing to deserve a rest - apart from almost getting caught and eating an apple yesterday...

"An apple!" she muttered under her breath, "Not even a bloody grape, how much easier would that have been to burn off... a whole lot easier than a bloody apple at least!" She sighed and continued dragging her feet along the pavement, knowing it would only extend the time it took her to reach her destination.

The road in front of her looked miles long. "Keresforth Hill Road," she muttered to herself, "Oh how I hate you." After a few seconds debate, she plastered a fake smile on her face and started walking up it as quickly as she could, ignoring the burn in her calves. She knew that this was the last chance she'd have to redeem herself before the downhill walk to the train station and then the numerous hours sitting and doing nothing at all.

By the time she'd reached the aforementioned station it was around 6.45am. Marie muttered under her breath at the extortionate price of public transport and bought her ticket to Sheffield. From there she would make her way to London. Marie eyed the other passengers (mainly business men in sharp suits) as she boarded the train and chose a seat next to the window. She tucked her knees against the chair in front of her and leant back in her seat so her feet were dangling in midair, waiting to start her journey. She was the only person that she knew that travelled on a train to catch the train to Hogwarts and didn't wonder why at all. It was _bloody boring_! She sighed as she leant back in her chair and wondered what disasters a new year at school would bring. She knew the war was growing more and more dangerous and dreaded to see the horrifying events that had happened in the Wizarding World since the end of school. She just hoped that no one she'd known had died...

--

After two changes between Barnsley and London, Marie found herself in the middle of Kings Cross Station with 35 minutes to spare. "Perfect timing as usual," She thought to herself (as she had a habit of doing), "Shows how good it is to always plan ahead!" Grinning, she stopped at the newsagents and bought two bottles of water before heading 

towards Platform 9¾. As the clock ticked over to a minute after quarter to, Marie settled herself into an empty compartment and sighed.

"Welcome back," she said aloud, just to prove to herself that she'd actually made it. "I'm not insane; I'm here finally here again. Welcome back!" Her gaunt face split into the first real smile of the day as she propped her feet onto the seat across from her and took a sip of water. She then replaced the lid and took out her lined notebook, tapping her muggle pen three times on the cover before opening it to a clean page and starting to write...

_Wednesday 1__st__ September 1976, 10:52am... already! I am SO glad to be back! If words could describe how happy I am right now I'd probably right them down but hey, I've just rambled about it so it quite obviously can't be described... anyway, today was NOT a normal 01/09 for me! For starters 'Mother' and 'Father' are either at home right now or about to jump aboard the train to come and get me because I finally up and left. On my way out of the house I ran into Steve (not literally but still!). I mean what?! Steve? My brother Steve?! I think I might have been hallucinating, I seem to have been doing that a lot lately... what am I talking about? Of course I wasn't! I think he came to see me... I hope he came to see me... maybe he came to rescue me? I hope so! I really hope he writes to me, if he doesn't then I'm not going to bother with him, he's not worth it if he can't simply put quill to paper, I don't even know if I'm ready to forgive him..._

_DISTRACTED MUCH?! Okay, so I'm on my way to Hogwarts, year six, a break from exams at last! I can't wait to get stuck in and back into the Quidditch season, I've especially been working towards becoming as small as I possibly can... I hope King still wants me as seeker though, that second year Brian McGuiness looks pretty appropriate, small and light with reflexes so quick it's like he's been bred for seeker... I'll be gutted if I don't get that spot... Anyway, I've got two bottles of water to last this journey and then I __think__ know that I'm going to have a couple of bites of chicken at the feast... I know there's no one specifically watching me but I don't want to make anyone unnecessarily suspicious, I can get up early tomorrow and work it off anyway... plus tryouts aren't until October, that's plenty of time to get in shape. That's all I'm going to say until I've had a nap I think._

_This week so far: +116, -2097, TOTAL: -1981 D!!_

A/N: I've changed the title and revamped this seen as I started it such a long time ago, I'm not going to desert it this time I swear! What I really wanted to ask is if you fin the diary entries annoying? I do in some fics but not in others, so if you think they are I'll stop writing them.

Until next time!


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